Hermione comes to the rescue
by Chris1101011
Summary: After his fifth year in Hogwarts, the Dursleys are as bad as ever to Harry and he's back in his cupboard but Hermione comes to the rescue. HarryHermione
1. The cupboard situation

**Hermione comes to the rescue**

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. This is a non profit fan fiction.

**Author's note:**

Hi, this is my first english fanfic and it's not my mother tongue, so please bear with me if I do make mistakes. I hope you'll like the story nevertheless. I'll try to get a native english beta reader for future chapters, but don't count on it ;)

**Summary:**

Harry Potter's 5th year is over and the Dursleys are as bad as ever to Harry. Hermione, one of his two best friends comes to the rescue (hence the title). Every events up to the order of the phoenix are incorporated in this story, but it changes the events of book 6, the Half-Blood prince. It still follows the Half-Blood prince's main story though, so you should have read it because I'll not write down everything that happened in the Half-Blood prince since that would be quite illegal :) Instead I'll just mention some things that happened and should give the reader an idea of what's going on.

**Chapter 1: The cupboard situation**

"Stuck in this damn broom cupboard again", Harry muttered to himself. He leaned against the hard door of his wooden prison and tried to fall asleep.

After Moody, Lupin and Tonks had a talk to his uncle and aunt back at the train station to make the Dursleys take better care of him, Harry thought maybe they would really have listened and somehow would start to be a bit nicer to him over the summer. Fat chance, they didn't. Even worse, now he had to stay in this god forsaken broom cupboard again, which was by now really way to small for his now older self. He couldn't even lie down to sleep. He had to sit against the door. They gave him a thin blanket, but didn't even bother to give him a pillow, so his head started to ache after an hour of trying to get some rest.

How should he sleep? He just didn't know. "I shouldn't let them do this to me", Harry thought. But really, what options did he have? Dumbledore said it's necessary for him to stay here again, for the blood magic to work. Harry could understand that, even if it meant to be abused by the Dursleys. It was better than being killed by the deatheaters. Or was it? But Harry didn't really think he could sleep anyhow. He'd dream of Sirius falling behind the veil. And then he'd wake up, trying not to scream in anger and frustration. Then he'd feel the loss. His godfather. Dead. Hermione, nearly killed in the ministry's department of mystery. Ron, attacked by those brains. Then he'd try desperate not to cry. Every night. He didn't want to cry. Not because boys shouldn't, but because he thought he'd break if he would allow his feelings to overcome him.

After a long and rough night, Harry finally got to sleep in the early morning and slept past noon. Harry heard someone pounding on the door to his so called room and before he was able to react, the door opened and he fell out on his back. Petunia Dursley, his aunt, was standing over him, watching down on him with great distaste. "Lunch is ready", she said and left for the kitchen without another word.

Harry got up and went after her into the kitchen were his uncle and his cousin were already seated. He saw mashed potatoes, chips, even a few steaks. He sniffed and it smelled fantastic. When he sat down and tried to stick his fork into a quite delicious looking steak, Harry was interrupted by a yell from his Uncle.

"Don't you dare eat our steaks, boy", he yelled, spitting all over the table while at it.

Harry jumped in surprise. "I'm sorry", he mumbled in a low voice, he didn't want any more trouble than was absolutely necessary. Aunt Petunia came back with a tupperware box in her hand and dropped something indescribable onto Harrys plate from out of the box, that she just got out of the microwave. Harry looked at the mass on his plate suspiciously. "What on earth..", he thought to himself while trying to use his knife to cut the thing that stared at him from his plate into smaller, eatable pieces. "It looks somewhat like flesh, but I could be mistaken", he thought. "Maybe, some time ago.. A really long time ago, this was actually some kind of animal." He felt sick in his stomach. He really didn't want to eat whatever it was. But what could he do? If he said, he wasn't hungry anymore, his aunt and uncle would go rampage. He wouldn't get something to eat for a week. Or worse. Finally he decided to just dig in.

Back in his cupboard, he had a bad stomachache. "Maybe they are trying to poison me", he thought. He just spent nearly 5 minutes in the bathroom brushing his teeth to get the bad taste of his meal out of his mouth, though with the absence of any success. "A kingdom for a mint gum'", he whispered. His eyes wandered around the inside of his cupboard. His eyes rested on the wooden wall were he carved in a small line every day until he'd be able to go back to Hogwarts or the burrow. The Dursleys wouldn't see what he had done for the past days with their cupboard. They never came in here. They never cleaned. It smelled bad. Harry wished he'd have a window or something, but he hadn't. He just opened the cupboard door from time to time to get rid of the smell from living in such a small place. "At least Hedwig is okay", he thought. He had sent her with a note to Hermione asking her to take care of his owl, on the first day he got back to the Dursleys and they stuck him in this closet again. Hedwig couldn't live here with him, she'd have gotten sick and Harry would have, too. Owls are messy animals and he couldn't even had fed her. She wouldn't have eaten what little Harry had to eat. "Even my owl has more pride than me", Harry thought. When he thought on how good Hedwig was feeling at Hermione's, he felt a sick feeling creeping into him. He asked himself, why she or Ron haven't sent him any mail. It was already a week when he sent Hedwig to Hermione. But how should he get the mail, he was in the cupboard, though Hermione didn't know that. He didn't want her to feel bad for him. Somehow he wanted her to feel bad for him, but it wasn't right. So he just wrote that he was okay but the Dursleys would have told him to get rid of the owl or they'd get rid of him and he better not wanted to get into a row with them about this so he'd be glad if Hermione could care for her over the summer.

When Harry awoke the next morning, he heard a snickering laugh from outside his cupboard. He tried to listen closely and looked with one eye through a small crack in the cupboard door. It was his cousin, Dudley. He was holding something, a letter maybe. He was reading from it and mumbling to himself, laughing from time to time. He couldn't hear him clearly, but he heard it when he said "don't know how he got himself a girlfriend, he's eery and she's too for writing him that much" .

Who did Dudley mean? Him? Harry? "I dont have a girlfriend... Wait. Does that mean this letter is for me? And there are more than this one letter? This creepy bastard steals my mail", Harry thought, anger rising inside him, wanting to get out. Harry pushed the door to his cupboard open. He didn't think of the consequences. He just wanted that letter, now.

Dudley stared at him, before he fell to the floor. Harry half jumped, half runned out of his cupboard and straight into his cousins legs, throwing him down hard onto the floor. Dudley winced, his head hurt. Harry scanned the floor briefly and found the letter. He took it and ran. Dudley started screaming. "He's trying to run away! He attacked me!" Dudley shouted. Harry heard heavy footsteps as he passed the living room. The door opened and his uncle came out of it, but Harry was already nearing the front door, opening it, running through and slamming it shut behind him.

Harry wasn't to leave his relatives house, it would be too dangerous, he knew. But in that moment, he just didn't care. He couldn't. They'd kill him for what he had done. Maybe they'd not really kill him. But they'd do something. Maybe beat him. He ran and ran, passing people on his way who shot him suspicious glances when they saw him running as if someone would be trying to catch him. He stopped panting heavy when he reached the small park and hid behind a tree. He sunk down and leaned back on the trunk of the big oak.

"What have I done?" he thought to himself. "All because of this stupid letter, what was I thinking?" He unfolded the letter and started reading it, sobbing.

---

Dear Harry,

I'm starting to get really worried about you not answering my letters. I thought Muggle mail would be okay since Hedwig is here with me, but maybe you just can't get your hands on any post stamps. At least, that is what I keep saying to myself. I know it sounds silly, but I keep thinking that your relatives somehow... I can't even write it down. I need you to give me a sign, that you are still alive, Harry. Please. I can't stop thinking about you and I really, really need to know that you are okay. I just can't wait anymore. Call me. If you forgot my number, it's 555-43764663.

Love,

Hermione

---

Harry's innermost parts seemed to be pulled together. Hermione was going crazy with fear about him being not okay. He had to do something to make her feel better. He had to call her. But how? He didn't have any muggle money on him. He could take the night bus to Diagon Alley. He still had his wand with him, because he had it in the back pocket of his throuthers every time. Moody once warned him not to, because he could loose a buttock, but Harry didn't really think that his butt would be capable of doing accidental magic. He was glad he didn't, because then he'd have nothing to protect himself and death eaters could be here any minute, if they were watching his house. He didn't know if they were, but why shouldn't they? Everyone knows where I'm living. They know, too. Maybe the order saw what happened, too. And they already are on the lookout for me. "They can't find me", he thought and jumped up. "If the order finds me, they bring me back to the Dursleys and I'm a dead man. I can't stay here either, because when the deatheaters find me, I'm a dead man, too."

How should he call the knight bus? It was early morning and he was in a muggle town, he couldn't just pull out his wand in broad daylight. Would it be okay if he went to a small side lane? Would it still work? He decided it was better to try, than not to. He started running again and when he was out of the park, he looked for some place deserted. He found a place good enough and looked if really no one was there who could see him. He took out his wand and held it out, high into the air. Nothing happened. "Damn it, I knew it. I've got to be near a street for it to work", he thought frustrated. He went a few steps towards the street, not leaving the protection of the small side lane. He tried again and waited. No loud crack was to be heard. No big, red double-decker bus was appearing on the street in front of him. "Maybe it just works at night.. Or I need to get even closer, but I can't. I'd get into even more trouble when someone sees me", he thought with a sinking feeling.

"I could ask someone in a shop if I could use their phone", Harry thought and went out onto the street with his wand hidden back in his pocket. He looked around and saw a small bookshop just across the street. "Yeah, it would be a perfect match to call Hermione from a bookshop. Maybe she'd sense it somehow and be really happy about it", he joked to himself to lighten his dark mood a bit.

Harry crossed the street and went into the bookshop, asking the clerk if he could use the phone. The middle-aged man seemed about to protest, but when he saw the desperate look in Harry's eyes, he seemed to think it over again and handed Harry a cordless phone from behind the counter. "No international calls please and make it quick", he said to Harry.

"Thanks, I won't and I will make it as quick as possible. That's really nice from you, thanks again", Harry said gratefully and went a bit back into the store so he would have some privacy. He took the letter from Hermione out of his pocket and unfoldet it again, scanning the lines for her phone number. "I hope she's home. Don't know what to say to her parents...", Harry thought and dialed the number. The phone made really funny noised but then the connection was made and after a few beeps, a man answered the phone.

"Dr. Granger here", the man on the phone said and Harry asked himself for a moment if he was calling the right number, but remembered then that Hermione's parents were dentists.

"Yes, hello. My name is Harry, Harry Potter, sir. Is.. Is Hermione there?", Harry asked, feeling quite a bit uncomfortable. He talked to Hermione's parents only once, that was back then before his second year at Hogwarts, when he and the Weasleys met the Granger's while shopping for School stuff in Diagon Alley.

"Oh, Harry. Nice to hear from you again, Hermione's been quite a bit nervous about your well being this summer, she kept talking about you and.. Wait a minute, I'll get her for you", Mr. Granger said.

Harry was a bit ashamed about being telled by Hermione's father that she talked so much about him and even more that he made her feel so bad. After a few seconds he heard a shrill shriek, resembling something along the line of "Harry? Is it really?".

Just a moment later, he heard someone grabbing the telephone. "HARRY! How are you? I was so afraid something would have happened to you!", he heard Hermione blabbering into the phone. Harry's mouth twitched and a small smile appeared on his face. "I'm okay, Hermione. I think. I'm really sorry about me worrying you so much. My cousin stole your letters before I could see them. I just.. Received... Your last letter today", Harry said.

"Oh, I knew something like that would have been the problem. I'm really glad you are okay. You.. You are okay, aren't you Harry? You sound a bit.. I don't know how to say it..", Hermione said questioningly.

Harry winced. "Yeah, yeah I'm really fine, Hermione", he lied, he didn't want to upset her any more. He should have known better though. You can't lie to Hermione Granger. You just... Can't.

"Harry?" she asked suspiciously. "Harry, are you really telling the truth? Tell me what happened, please..", she asked.

Harry couldn't bear her pleading voice. "Oh, alright. But please, don't start worrying again, I'm okay. It's just.. I awoke in the cupboard this morning and then I heard Dudley and - ", Harry began but was interrupted by Hermione.

"In the cupboard you say? Don't tell me they put you back there. They didn't..." she said with anger starting to rise in her voice.

"Yeah, they did. Anyhow, I heard Dudley mumbling about this letters from someone's girlfriend... And then I realized, he meant letters for me and I.. I just got so angry that he stole my mail, you know? I stormed out of the cupboard and pushed him down to the floor", Harry said and waited a moment for Hermione to say something, but continued when she didn't. "I took the letter and.. I ran away. I just stormed out of the house and then, then I read your letter and had to call you, which I'm doing right now", Harry said and waited for Hermiones reaction.

It came fast. "Oh - my - god. Please Harry, please tell me you are not alone, out there somewhere, with deatheaters maybe already on your tracks. Please tell me that isn't true" she said, whispering the last part.

Harry didn't know what to say instead of "Yes. I am. Sorry..", not wanting to be in his own shoes right now.

He heard Hermione gasp. "But Harry! It's way too dangerous for you to be out there, you have to go back!" she said frantically.

Harry sighed. "I can't, Hermione. I - ", Harry said but was interrupted by Hermione again.

"But Harry, really, you must - ", she said but this time it was she who was interrupted.

"No, you don't understand, Hermione. They will kill me for sure, I can't go back there, they'll.. They'll.. I just can't, okay?" Harry said, earning a suspicious look from the clerk. He'd better end the call soon, or the clerk would maybe call the officials because Harry ran away from home, fearing his relatives would kill him if he went back. "I've got to hang up now, I'm calling from a bookshop and - ", Harry said and lowered his voice a bit, "I think the shopkeeper is about to call the police, he may have heard me talking about running away from home."

"No!" Hermione said quite loud and Harry sighed again. "No Harry, stay where you are, I'll come and get you, just tell me where you are" she said.

"No, I don't want that Hermione, I'ts okay, really. I'll go now, greet Ron and Ginny from me when you hear from them. Bye" he said and hung up before Hermione could say anymore. He gulped and went up to the counter, handing the phone back to the clerk. "Thanks again for letting me use your phone, I've got to go now" Harry said, already turning to leave.

"Everything alright there, young man?" the clerk asked and Harry practically ran out of the shop while shouting "Yeah, thanks, goodbye".

The problem with running out of the store was, that he didn't know where to run. Maybe he should have stayed there and waited for Hermione like she wanted him to, but he really didn't want to cause trouble for her and he also really had to leave before the man in the bookshop got even more suspicious. "Maybe I'll just live from eating rats, like Sirius did when he was on the run", Harry thought, painfully thinking about his godfather again. "No, I'll never do that.. But maybe I'd get lucky and eat Peter Pettigrew while at it."

Harry ran back into the park and hid behind the oak tree, again. He could spent some time here before having to decide on a place to sleep. He felt sad, alone and just bad. He could sleep in a Muggle bank, he thought. He heard his uncle talking about seeing some teenagers once when he had to make a night visit to the bank to get some money, because he would have had no time to do it the next morning. The front room of banks were opened all night, so you could get to the cash machines even if it was already past midnight and there you'd have it warm and comfortable unless someone finds you.

Maybe he should have run to another town, somewhere more distant from possible order members and the deatheaters on the lookout for him, but he just didn't feel like it and really, would that make any difference? They could get him there as well as here, so he just tried not to think about what could happen and tried to take a nap. It was much more comfortable lying there against the tree, than back at the Dursleys in his cupboard, so he fell asleep pretty fast. He didn't sleep long before a rustling of wings waked him up and an owl started to pick on his arm.

He opened his eyes and saw a snowy white owl, standing on his legs. "Hedwig", Harry said surprised. "What are you doing here? How..?" He said and then noticed a note tied to Hedwig's leg. He petted his owl and untied the note, unfolding the small parchment and reading it.

---

HARRY JAMES POTTER, STAY WHERE YOU ARE OR I WILL CURSE YOU INTO OBLIVION!

Hermione

---

Harry gulped. He stand up and put the letter in his pocket, where the other letter from Hermione already was. "Bloody hell" he cursed, turned and wanted to start running again, but was hugged in a bone crushing embrace before he even knew what happened. His vision was taken by long, brown, curly hair and the scent of lavender coming from it in waves creeped into his nostrils. The sadness and all the dark feelings were blown away like leaves in the wind and his heart started to make high jumps as if he'd run miles and miles on end. "You found me", Harry pointed out the obvious.

"Hedwig did. I followed her", Hermione said when she released Harry from the embrace. "Don't ever hang up on me again, Harry. That was NOT nice. I can't imagine how I'd feel if something happened to you", she said, her eyes moist and slightly swollen. She seemed to have been crying all the way from the phone call to when she found Harry there standing behind the tree.

Harry couldn't look her in the eyes. "I'm so sorry Hermione. I really am", he said taken aback by her strong feelings.

"It's okay, Harry. It's all okay now. My parents are waiting in the car, we'll take you with us and then - ", she said but Harry shook his head.

"No, no I won't. I don't want you to get into any trouble, I can't just go to your parents home, they'll hate me and.. No, I won't come with you", Harry said, still shaking his head in disbelief about her even mentioning that as a possibility.

Hermione glared at him. "You will. Don't be silly Harry, my parents don't hate you. You need help and we will help you, okay? You can't stay here, you need to come with me", she said.

"Dumbledore will find out, he'll send me back to the Dursleys for sure and I - CAN'T - GO - BACK - THERE", he nearly shouted the last words.

Hermione took his arm and shook it. "Harry, look at me", she said. But he didn't. "Look at me, for gods sake!", she said again and Harry looked her in the eyes. He saw fierce determination in them. "You won't be sent back to the Dursleys. I won't let you go back there. I won't let anyone, not even Dumbledore, send you back there. But you need to come with me now", she said and Harry believed her. He didn't know why. All he saw was her brown eyes and they told nothing but the bare naked truth.

He looked back down and saw that she was holding out her hand to him. He took it and then she walked him to her parent's car that was parked near the entrance to the park.

**A/N 2:**

So, tell me what you think and if my english is good enough to continue this story. Thanks for reading!


	2. Meet the Grangers

**Hermione comes to the rescue**

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. This is a non profit fan fiction.

**Author's note:**

Wow, so many readers in such a short time. Thanks for all the reviews and because my english seems to be good enough for you, here comes the next chapter ;) The Grangers house is inspired by my parents house because that makes it much easier for me to write about it, by not having to make up a complete house in my imagination. I can't tell how long this story will be in the end, I can just say that it ends when it feels right, if that makes any sense. It's no one-shot though, that I can tell you. The title of the story may seem like it, but it will become important again at a later point in the story.

**Chapter 2: Meet the Grangers**

Feeling more uncomfortable than even his broom cupboard had made him feel, Harry opened the door to the Granger's car and closed it behind him, after he sat down in one of the back seats with Hermione taking the seat beside him. Mister Granger wasn't the only one who came to fetch Harry, Misses Granger was sitting on the passenger's seat in front of Harry.

"You really found him", Mister Granger said to Hermione and then looked at Harry. "We are so glad that you are okay, Hermione told us about your relatives and the deatheaters that are quite possible on the lookout for you." Mister Granger started the engine and slowly drove the car out of the parking lot. Misses Granger took his place in talking to Harry.

"Are you alright now, dear? It must be a very complicated time for you, we'll make sure you are safe and well for the rest of the summer, don't you worry", she said and Harry felt a warm feeling rise in his chest. "They are nice", he thought. Harry still felt a bit ashamed for them having had to drive all the way to Little Whinging to get him and for him now more and more likely to spent the summer over at their house. But he also felt much better than back at the Dursleys and was glad that Hermione didn't give up on trying to help him. "She rescued me", he thought and smiled a little. "Thanks, Misses Granger, Mister Granger", he said. "I'm fine now. I really am."

The car stopped in front of a large, nice looking house with trees alined along the driveway to the garage, which Mister Granger opened with a click on a remote he held out in front of him. They drove into the garage and Harry unfastened his seat belt. He opened the car door again and stepped out, looking around. He saw a workbench with lots of tools a bit to the far end of the big garage and three bikes leaning against a wall. Scattered around the room were boxes filled with tons of things. Harry didn't have the time to look at what they contained, because Hermione opened a door that seemed to lead inside the house directly from the garage. He followed her through the door and up a stairway. Harry didn't know what to say when he saw that the house was even bigger inside than it already looked from the outside. He also didn't know what Ron would say, maybe "Gosh, Hermione. Your parents are rich", noticing that he had just said that out loud.

"We aren't", Harry heard Misses Granger say from behind him and he felt ashamed for having said that. "But it may be true that we have a bit more money than others, that's the good thing about both of us being dentists", she continued. "Why don't you show Harry the guest room and catch up with him a bit, Hermione? We'll be in the living room if you need us", she said, leaving Harry und Hermione alone.

"Come on, Harry", Hermione said. "I'll show you were you can stay." She led him to the end of a small corridor with three doors. He peeked through the door to the left and saw that it was a bathroom. They went through the door that was straight ahead of them and had a large double bed standing inside and one big window with long blue curtains on the wall opposite the bed.

"Nice", was all Harry was able to say, even though that nice wasn't a good enough word to describe this room compared to the small cupboard he used to live in for the past week.

"My room is just out the door to the left, really just a meter away from yours. Come on, let me show it to you!", she said energetically and all the feelings of worry seemed to have flown away from her as if they never had been there in the first place.

He followed Hermione out of his new room and through the door opposite the door to the bathroom he saw before. You could say, her room resembled a semi good filled Library. But instead, you could just say that her room was filled with tons and tons of books. Large - and that means over two meters high and one meter wide - bookshelfs occupied almost a whole wall of the room. A nice wooden desk with parchments, a quill and an Ink bottle was standing in an arch. A large four poster bed was in the center of the room and two windows, larger than any windows Harry ever saw were also taking up one wall of the room. She opened one of the windows, letting in a warm breeze and Harry noticed now that one of the windows really was more like a large glass door that let one go directly onto the houses terrace.

"It's beautiful", Harry said and meaning it.

Hermione blushed. "You really think so, Harry? That's nice of you to say. I thought you'd think of me as a bit crazy because of all the books.."

Harry shook his head. "No, I really like it. It suits you perfectly. It's very.. Hermione ish", he said.

"Hermione ish?", she asked with piercing eyes.

Then, without a warning Harry's face fell. Hermione looked frightened for a second before her face changed to a worried expression.

"Harry, Harry what's wrong?", she asked.

"I.. I can't stay here. I shouldn't have come with you. I'm such an idiot. The deatheaters.. They will come here, now that I am here and they.. They will.. I have got to go. Now", he said with panic getting the better of him. He wanted to hit his head really bad with something hard, like Dobby the house elf did when he did something wrong.

Hermione took one of his arms to hold him back. "Stop it, Harry. It's okay, they don't know that you are here. We are safe", she said reassuringly but Harry didn't believe a word she said.

"Maybe they followed me, I don't want anything to happen to you or your parents because of me", Harry said now looking pleadingly at her to let him go.

"If they would have been watching you, Harry, and please try to think straight for a moment, than you'd be already dead by now. Or at least, you would have been attacked. You were running out on the street and taking a nap in the park, did you forget that?", Hermione asked in a matter of fact kind of voice that lowered Harry's temper a bit.

"Maybe.. Maybe they just wait for the right moment to strike", he said. "How can you be so sure everything would be alright?", Harry asked Hermione.

She sighed. "I'm not. Okay? I'm not. But I'm - quite - sure. And I won't let you go. I'll hex you if I must and believe me, I'd do it and you know better than anyone that I'm capable of doing it", she said sadly, pulling out her Wand and pointing it at Harry's chest.

He looked down at the wand pointing at his chest, disbelief flaring up in his eyes. He looked back up at Hermione. "You wouldn't", he said but then he saw, again, the fierce look of determination in her eyes that he already saw today back when she had found him in the park. The look, that convinced him to come with her to her parent's place. Realization dawned on his face and with a crooked voice he corrected himself, "You would.."

She nodded without ever taking her eyes from his. "But you can't, they'll expel you for use of underage magic. Your parents are muggles, they'll know it was you who used magic", Harry said.

"So be it. I won't let you go out there alone again, Harry", Hermione said already pretty sure about her decision.

"You'd really risk expulsion from Hogwarts to protect me?", Harry asked astonished.

Hermione nodded again and looked as if he'd be crazy to even think that she'd care more about school than him. "Naturally I would. I'd do nearly anything to protect you, Harry. You would do the same for me, If it was me in your shoes. So you better sit down now if you don't want to be responsible for my expulsion from Hogwarts. It's your call, Harry."

Harry didn't know what to say anymore, he just knew that he didn't deserve a friend like Hermione. His thoughts were interrupted by a dazzling ball of fire erupting just between him and Hermione. Harry's heart stopped to beat for a whole second in pure shock, before his eyes recognized Fawkes as the one responsible for the commotion. Fawkes was Dumbledore's familiar, a fire red Phoenix that was able to travel long distances in the mere blink of an eye, leaving just a burst of flames behind him. He had a letter tied to his leg and Harry stared at it.

Hermione was still gasping in shock, but started to move when she, too, realized that they weren't in any immediate danger. "Harry, go, take the note, it's got to be from Dumbledore", Hermione said.

Harry looked at Hermione and then back at the note, untying it from Fawkes' leg. He unfolded the parchment and read the single bold line of text written on it in dark green ink, followed by another bunch of lines written in smaller letters with Hermione reading the letter over his shoulder.

---

STAY WHERE YOU ARE, HARRY!

I can't say how glad I am that you made it safely to the Grangers. You are safe there for the moment, two aurors each and sometimes order members are constantly watching their and also the Weasleys house for safety purposes. Due to the full recovery of Lord Voldemort after the events of the Triwizard Tournament and the possible danger that Miss Granger and her parents and also Mister Ron Weasley and his family may or may not be in right now, that was a necessary step for me to take. As you may well know, they are in a possibly greater danger than others because of your close friendship with them. The two aurors are already informed about the situation at hand and are on the lookout for any possible dangers. They are hidden behind invisibility cloaks and you are not to try to contact them if it isn't absolutely necessary. That's because of the same reason that I am not able to come over to talk to you in person, Harry. We don't know yet if the deatheaters know about your sudden change in whereabouts and we don't want to make them suspicious by me visiting Miss Granger or aurors running around the house.

I deeply hope and believe that you had a good reason to leave the safety of your relatives house, Harry. And I would like to hear from you why you did it. Fawkes can take the note to me in seconds, so you won't have to wait too long for an answer. As you are now aware, Fawkes has no problems getting through the anti-apparition ward that I personally cast around the Granger's house last summer. No one else though will be able to, so you don't have to fear any sudden intrusions.

Yours sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

---

Harry sat down heavy on Hermione's bed, still looking at the piece of parchment in his hands. He noticed Hermione taking a seat beside him on the bed and felt an arm snaking around his back. "Are you alright, Harry?", Hermione asked him while rubbing his back.

Harry let out a long, deep breath. "No. No I'm not. I'm relieved that we are safe here as it seems, but you know what this letter means. He'll sent me back to the Dursleys as soon as he can do it without the deatheaters noticing it."

Hermione said nothing for a while, just a few seconds, but then she made him feel better again by the use of just a couple of words. "I won't let him", was what she said and she pulled him to her into an embrace. "We'll find a way.. Dumbledore will understand somehow, I promise."

Harry felt very relieved about having Hermione by his side, comforting him. It was just too much for him to bear, with thoughts about the Dursleys, Sirius and the prophecy that he still hadn't told a living soul about, floating around in his head, casting shadows on everything that would have made him feel better, shielding all the good feelings from his grasp.

Hermione released Harry from the embrace and stood up. "Where are you going?", Harry asked. Hermione sat down at her desk and took a parchment, quill and ink that Harry saw earlier. "I'm writing back to Dumbledore", she said.

"You... You do? Really?", he asked in disbelief. "You are the best friend a boy could ever wish for, Hermione", Harry said.

Hermione's lips twitched and formed a smile while already writing the letter to Dumbledore. "Even better than Ron?", she asked and Harry started mumbling fast without knowing what to say to that. "Oh, don't freak out Harry, I didn't mean it. One should never try to decide between his best of friends, you wouldn't come to a satisfactory answer."

It took Hermione five minutes before she read her letter to Dumbledore for a last time and was satisfied enough with the contents, to tie it onto Fawkes leg, who burst into a ball of flames a mere second after Hermione pulled her hands away. "Gosh, does he have to startle me like that?", she asked and saw Harry grinning. "You think that was funny, don't you?", she asked and sighed. "Oh well, at least it made you smile a bit."

"What did you write to him?", Harry asked her.

Now it was Hermione's turn to grin. "That's for me to know and for you to find out", she said and sat back down on the bed.

"You are cruel, Hermione. That's not fair", Harry said.

---

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

I am writing to you on behalf of Harry because I think that he has gone through enough already for today and also for the past days after what happened in the Ministry of Magic. His relatives were not quite nice to him. If you could see him now, I am sure you would think the same. He looks downright awful, he is thinner than ever and it was only a week, even if they did not feed him anything while his stay at their house, he should not have been getting that thin in just a week of time.

Harry did something stupid today, but I do not think it could have been prevented. He took down his cousin when he got to know that his cousin had stolen his letters, which I sent him over the last couple of days and I daresay there were quite a few letters from Ronald Weasley, too.

I, more like anyone, want for Harry to be as safe as possible. But under this circumstances, and I hope that I don't have to remind you of them, it is not acceptable for him to stay any longer at the Dursleys. He lost his godfather, the last person he could call family and with him, a big connection to his parents. He needs his friends, he needs someone who he can talk to about what is happening to him right now. Harry ran away in fear of being killed by the Dursleys today. Fearing, they would punish him for attacking their son. And that comes on top of all that what he already has to go through.

You may send a hundred aurors to my parent's house if you think it as a necessary action to be taken, I am sure my parents would not protest. But I will not let Harry be alone with his relatives anymore. This point does not stand for discussion. If he can't stay here with me, than I will stay with him at his relatives and I WILL use magic against them, if I feel the need arise. And I have to mention here, that his relatives put Harry back again into the cupboard under the stairs, so it would be very uncomfortable for the two of us living in such a limited space, which doesn't even allow Harry alone to lie down at night to sleep.

Yours sincerely,

Hermione Jane Granger

---

They waited five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes, but nothing happened. After half an hour, Harry started to think that Dumbledore may have not gotten the answer and voiced his thoughts. "Don't be silly Harry, he sure got the letter. I think.. Maybe I shocked him a tiny little bit", Hermione said.

Harry stared at her. "You shocked him? What the heck did you write, Hermione?", Harry asked accusingly.

Hermione was glad that she didn't have to answer that question. Her mother knocked at the door to her room and said that dinner was ready, after Hermione told her to come in. Harry ate quite a lot that evening, with Hermione asking him every time his plate got empty, if he would like some more bread, or anything else. He felt like his stomach would burst, but one week of the things the Dursleys provided for him and called edible, made you see real food in a completely new light. There was plenty of food, because they had lunch and dinner at the same time. They had missed lunch when they went to look for Harry. They talked about Dumbledore's letter and the Grangers seemed relieved to hear that someone was out there watching over their house.

When Harry and Hermione already stood to leave, a burst of flames got Misses Granger to jump up in shock, dropping the plate she had in her hand just a second ago and was now shattering on the floor. "It's alright, mum. It's a phoenix. It's Professor Dumbledore's pet, it got mail for us, like Hedwig does, you know?", Hermione tried to explain. Her mother nodded but didn't want to get too close to the red bird tapping on her dinner table.

Hermione set down again, untied the parchment and read the letter that was addressed to her and Harry. She read the letter out loud, because her parents seemed to be at least interested in what the letter had to say, even if they still felt a bit reserved about the bird who brought it.

---

Dear Hermione and Harry,

I am sorry that my answer to your letter took that long. I had to think about what you, Miss Granger, wrote to me for quite some time. Minerva, that is Professor McGonagall for you two, also added to the problem at hand by having read the letter over my shoulder. It would be the understatement of the century if I would say, that she was quite furious about me sending Harry back to his relatives. And I have to say with deepest regret, that my one year supply of lemon drops was destroyed in the process. Although that this is only a small punishment for what you, Harry, had to go through, I hope that you can forgive me. I thought and still think it best for you to be at your relatives home, you would not be safer from the deatheaters anywhere on the planet. But as Miss Granger reminded me, you were not safe from harm there completely.

I have taken the liberty of rescuing your belongings from the Dursleys, Harry. I feel sad to admit, that they had already put all of them out onto the street in their front yard and there may have been a few things stolen already, but I do hope that you find everything at it's place when Miss Granger's parents find your belongings in their office tomorrow at work. If you find something missing that could make a muggle believe that there is magic in our world, then please sent me your owl to inform me right away. Do not mention anything about your whereabouts though, Fawkes can not be intercepted, but your owl can.

Thank you, Hermione, for having opened my old eyes and also give your parents my thanks for taking Harry in. And Harry, I want to say again how sorry I am and that is not only because Minerva promised to hex me, if I did not. I will improve the security measures at the Grangers house as good as I can without anyone noticing it.

I have to ask you though, Harry, to stay inside the house at all time. It would be too risky if someone saw you running around. You could endanger your and the Grangers' life if you did.

Yours sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

---

"What was that about the lemon drops?", Mister Granger asked his daughter. Harry smiled. "Professor Dumbledore sometimes seems a bit - crazy, that's why so many people like him. He is by far the most powerful wizard on earth and he knows it, but he has never stopped to be human with all the power the world gave him. Quite the opposite of Lord Voldemort, one could say", Hermione told her father.

Harry didn't know how he could have said it better. He was sure, he would have stopped talking after the "crazy" part. After thinking a bit more about the letter, Harry found himself asking a questions that he thought would be his duty to ask. "Are you really okay with me staying here, Mister and Misses Granger?"

Hermione's mother smiled warmly when she said, "Sure we are, Harry. You stay here until the school starts again. I must admit that I am a bit concerned with the safety issues, but we trust Hermione and your Headmaster when they think it would be okay. And I also don't think that Hermione would ever forgive us, if we wouldn't let you stay here", she said.

Harry looked at Mister Granger and received a nod from him. "I can't say how much that means to me, I will repay you every cent I'll cost you over the next weeks", Harry said but Mister Granger shook his head. "No need to do that, Harry. We won't be ruined by feeding another person for just a few weeks. I'll lay out some clothes from me that you can wear until we come back from work tomorrow with your own things", he said.

"I still can't believe that Dumbledore let's me stay here", Harry said to Hermione back in her room a few minutes later. "A letter. It needed just a letter for him to finally set me free of my relatives so called care."

"It's not just the letter, Harry", Hermione said. "If it was not for what happened this morning and also for what happened at the end of last year..", she said not wanting to say out loud that one of the reasons was Sirius death and how it affected Harry. "Do you... Do you want to talk about it?", she asked tentatively.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes it's hard just to hear his name, but then again I am constantly thinking about what happened to him anyhow, so I don't see why there would be a problem talking about it. It's just that I wouldn't know where to start. What to say. I don't even really know why this is so hard for me. Why can everyone keep it together but I can't, Hermione?", Harry asked with a sad tone in his voice.

"Because he was your godfather, Harry. You were bound to miss him more than we", Hermione said from beside him on her bed.

"Come on, it's not like he was my father or anything. Being a godfather doesn't mean that much, does it?", Harry said.

"It does for you, Harry. You never knew your parents. You knew the Dursleys as your last living relatives and blimey, they aren't what one would call nice to you. So, I think that Sirius being your godfather meant much more to you than if your parents would still be alive. You lost something really big with his death. And not only that, he was a connection to your parents. There's still Lupin, though" Hermione said.

Harry sighed. "I know. Lupin's great. He's really nice.. But...", he said searching for the right words.

"He's not as cool as Sirius was", Hermione said.

Harry nodded. "He's not. I don't know. I just felt really comfortable around Sirius and I had no problems at all talking with him about stuff. With Lupin it's more like.. Like talking to a teacher, you know?"

Hermione thought about that for a moment. "He - was - our teacher for quite some time, Harry", she then said.

Harry shook his head. "I know, but that's not what I meant. It's got nothing to do with him teaching defence that year. He's just so.. Reserved maybe? No, that can't be the right word."

Hermione laid a hand on Harry's. "I know what you mean, Harry. And I know that you really like him even if you liked Sirius better. That's okay", she said. "I have to admit that I like Lupin better, it's totally normal, you can't force you to like everyone the same", she said and Harry shot her an angry glare.

"You do what?", he asked.

"Oh Harry, come on. It's just that Sirius was a bit the trouble maker, wasn't he? And Lupin is just nice. He's really nice to people and one of the best teachers we ever had."

Behind the large glass window hidden under an invisibility cloak, Remus Lupin let out a sigh and felt a hand stroking his shoulder. "Hey, don't take it that bad. He's right, you know? You are a bit reserved. Sirius was just fun to be around and it can be with you, too, but sometimes you make it hard for others with you feeling just so miserable about yourself", Nymphadora Tonks said.

Remus snorted. "If that was to make me feel better now, then it didn't help", he said.

Tonks grinned. "Don't be mad at me, I just said how it is. And don't forget, Harry also said that you are great and really nice. And Hermione likes you even better. And I do, too, you know that. You are popular with the girls, Mister", Tonks said grinning.

Instead of laughing, Remus looked at her face and sighed again. "Yes, I know that you think that. And you know that I can't be together with you, Tonks. I am a werewolf. You can do better than me", he said angrily.

"Oh alright, don't let us get started on this again. But without your wolfish aural acuity, we never would have heard that they are talking about you, so it's good for something, isn't it?", Tonks said.

"I would glady loose all of my better than normal senses if that meant being human again", Remus said sadly.

Tonks punched him hard in the ribs. "What was that for?", Remus asked.

She glared at him. "You - are - human, Remus. Don't you ever say you were not, again."

"Damn, let's get back on our watch duty, I think they heard you wince like a girl when I punched you", Tonks said going back with Remus on their rounds.

"I didn't wince like a girl", Remus muttered, following Tonks.

"Did you hear that?", Harry asked while looking out the window.

"Yeah, just a cat or something. Don't get all jumpy now, you know we are under protection here, there are no deatheaters coming so calm down, okay?", Hermione said reassuringly.

"Yeah. Maybe you're right. I'm just seeing things", Harry said yawning.

"Wanna go to bed now?", Hermione asked and received a nod from Harry.

"Good, you know where the bathroom and your room are. And if you need anything Harry, just wake me, okay?", Hermione said and stood up from her bed.

Harry nodded but thought that he wouldn't really wake her up just because he needed something. He got ready for bed in the bathroom and then got in the bed thinking about all the stuff he should better try to forget, before falling asleep an hour afterwards.

**A/N 2:**

Hope you liked the second chapter :) I'll start writing the next chapter right away but I don't know yet how long it will take. Thanks again for all the reviews.


	3. About a night and a day

**Hermione comes to the rescue**

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. This is a non profit fan fiction.

**Author's note:**

So many of you put the story on their favorites or email alert list and I also received a bunch of new reviews, thank you all for reading ;) Here comes the next chapter although I thought it would take longer to write. Hope you'll like it. Be nice, christmas is coming up ;) Oh and I was made aware of the fact that you don't write "Misses" and "Mister", I should have used the abbreviations instead. I'll change this some time later, thanks for mentioning that to me.

**Chapter 3: About a night and a day**

When Harry woke up for the first time that night, he hadn't slept all that much. He looked at his wristwatch and saw that it was just after 12 A.M. He wished he could fall asleep again and he did, but it took him nearly an hour to do so.

He was sitting in the cupboard under the stairs at his relatives house again and people kept coming by. And he was not sixteen anymore, he was barely ten and really small.

"You bony little boy are not to eat my steak", Vernon Dursley said, spitting Harry right into his face.

"Harry has a girlfriend, girlfriend, girlfriend!", Dudley Dursley sang while jumping in front of Harry's cupboard with a bunch of letters in his hand.

"Do you really like this mudblood Granger, Harry?", Voldemort said, staring down at Harry in his cupboard. "I will kill her, then. Because that's what I do best. Killing the people you love."

"Harry, I was so afraid something happened to you, why didn't you answer my letters?", Hermione asked him with swollen red eyes.

Harry shouted to her and he was shocked about how young the voice coming out of his own mouth sounded. "Hermione! Run away! Voldemort wants to kill you!"

But it was too late. He saw a curse flying at Hermione, the Avada Kedavra. She slumped down onto the floor with an empty expression on her face and Bellatrix Lestrange went into Harry's view. "You liked her, didn't you? Like your godfather, maybe?", Bellatrix said and started laughing shrill and loud. Harry visibly started shaking.

Bellatrix and Hermione both vanished again and Hermione's parents came to the cupboard. "Harry. What have you done to us? You killed our daughter. Our only child", they said in unison.

Then Voldemort jumped into the picture again, killing both Hermione's parents with two flicks of his wand. "Don't fear them Harry, they are gone now", Voldemort said and then too, started laughing.

"What are you doing with him here, Harry? Are you facing Vol.. You-Know-Who alone, without me?", Ron asked perplexed when he appeared at Voldemorts side.

"Sure he does, my little blood traitor", Voldemort said while putting a hand on Ron's shoulder. "He doesn't like you enough. He thinks you are no good to face me. He thinks, you would just hold him back because you're nothing more than a squib", Voldemort said and Ron's shoulders slumped down.

"That's not true!", Harry shouted angrily. "Ron's a hundred times better than you! He'd wash the floor with your face!"

Voldemort began to smile, an inhuman and evil smile "Really? You want me to believe that? Let's find out then", Voldemort said, going into dueling position with Ron. They both bowed to each other and hold their wants out in front of them.

Harry cried "Nooooo!", when Voldemort's curse hit Ron straight into the chest, before Ron even had a chance to start thinking about what spell to use. Ron slumped down on the ground with the absence of any life in his body.

"Harry. You lied. I don't think he was any good at all", Voldemort said.

Harry couldn't believe it. He saw Ginny running to Ron's side, taking him in her arms. Then she looked at Harry, tears running down her cheeks "Harry! Why did you do that? Why did you let Voldemort kill my brother?", she asked. "You are the boy who lived! You should have done something!"

Harry just shook his head in disbelief.

"It's cruel when women cry, isn't it? I can't stand it. Avada Kedavra!", Voldemort said before his curse hit Ginny and she too, slumped down on the ground.

Harry wanted to run out of the cupboard, he wanted to kill Voldemort with his bear hands, but he couldn't move. And there was fear welling up inside him. What could he do? He was just a small child.

When Voldemort began singing in a snake like voice about this boy with the prophecy on his shoulders and small, just one meter tall deatheaters started dancing around Voldemort, singing "A-va-da-Keda-vra-to-his-friends" and clapping their hands after each line, Harry knew that he was just dreaming and woke up for the second time this night, now with sweat covering his body.

He nearly got up to go over to Hermione's room but he couldn't get himself to do it. What would she think of him? Not wanting to be alone because of a bad dream like a small child would. "I could ask her for a book so I'd have something to do..", he thought but shook his head. He couldn't wake her up for that. He felt the need to visit the loo and splashed some water in his face after having used the toilet. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. "Oh my goodness, I look awful", he thought, looking hastily away from the mirror.

When he went out of the bathroom, he saw Hermione standing inside the door to her bedroom, clad in an oversized T-Shirt and tight shorts which were barely peeking out from under her long shirt. Harry blushed heavily.

"Is everything alright, Harry? I heard the toilet flush. Gosh, you look awful", she said. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Harry nodded, his eyes though kept wandering over Hermione's appearance.

"What?", she asked looking down on her to see what Harry was looking at. "I don't have any nightgowns, I think they are really old fashioned."

She looked back up at him and giggled. "Harry! Are you blushing?", she asked. "That's so sweet. You don't wear bras at night, it's way too uncomfortable. So stop blushing, it's not like you saw me naked or something."

"Thanks. I wasn't aware of you not wearing.. Not wearing any.. Bra.. Thing", Harry mumbled shyly.

"You weren't? Oh, I thought that was why you were blushing. Sorry..", she said and took his hand, pulling him with her into her room. "Let's have a nice long talk about how you finally noticed that one of your two best friends is a girl", she said grinning.

Harry sat down with her on her bed. "I'm not Ron. I knew that you were a girl, Hermione. Even before the Yule ball. But I must admit, that it was breathtaking to see you back then, you looked more like a girl than any I've ever seen before, so that really should have gotten the message over to me at least.

Now it was Hermione's turn to blush. "I know, I was shocked myself when I first saw me in the mirror. I couldn't believe that was me. It took ages for me to look like that, but still, it was me."

"Yeah, lucky bloke that Victor, eh?", Harry said, not really aware why he had brought it up.

"Oh come on, don't be like Ron. I never had anything with him, though I do know he wanted more than friendship", Hermione told him.

"So, still a virgin then?", Harry said without thinking and then he talked so fast he thought he'd die "Orally, I mean.. You know!"

Hermione looked at him as if he was a snow man standing outside in mid-summer. "An oral virgin? Harry, I don't think I want to talk to you about THAT", she said.

"No! No, I meant kissing. You never kissed, was what I meant. Not... Oral.. Oh god, kill me NOW", Harry said shutting his eyes close until he heard Hermione giggling again.

"Oh Harry, I know. I just teased you. I need to lighten your mood a bit, don't I? I know, I'm not as good as Ron at this. Girls tease, guys joke", she said.

Harry smiled. "Thanks, Hermione. It's really appreciated", he said. "But don't be too hard on me, I could DIE", he said and Hermione laughed.

"I don't know why you are so jumpy about this anyhow. I mean, you knew me for 5 years and we were together every day at school. You never blushed back then", she said looking far to interested about this conversation for Harry's taste.

"That was school, now I'm at your house. Ron's not here. We are alone together", Harry said. "It's just.. Different."

"Not exactly alone, my parents are here. But they'll be off and gone till dinner after breakfast. You think you can cope with that, Harry?", she teased again.

Harry threw her pillow at her. "Very funny, ha ha", he said grinning.

"It must be, or you wouldn't grin that madly about it", she said smiling.

Harry stopped grinning abruptly. "I think I made my point", she said still smiling.

"Got me there, huh?", Harry said lying back on her bed and sighing.

"Don't get too comfortable Harry, I'll send you back to your room as soon as you are good to go", she said, lying back on the bed, too.

"Sorry, Hermione. I'll go, just.. Just a few more minutes, please?", he asked in a soft voice and Hermione took his hand and stroked over it with her thumb.

"Sure Harry, I didn't mean to throw you out, you know that. You stay here till you feel good enough. It's not like I'd die tomorrow morning from not having slept the whole night because of talking to you. We can sleep through breakfast if it's necessary and I'll cook something up when you're ready", Hermione said.

Harry laughed a little. "You can be so nice some times, you know? And that's something because most of the time you are a litte bit.. Ehm. Never mind..", Harry said not wanting to end that sentence.

"What?", Hermione asked.

"No, I don't want you to get mad", Harry said.

"I won't. Tell me, pleeeease?", Hermione said.

"Oh well, you know you can be a bit bossy at times", Harry said cautiously.

"Yeah, got that from my mum I think", Hermione snickered.

"Your mum? She's not bossy, she's really nice. She reminds me so much of Mrs. Weasley", Harry said. "Granted, Mrs. Weasley is bossy to her kids, but she never was anything but nice to me."

"I think you'll see over the next few weeks that my mum can be quite bossy at times, too. But.. Do you really mean that? That my mum is as nice as Mrs. Weasley? You like her?", Hermione asked.

Harry nodded. "Both of them, your dad is nice, too. I mean, they let me stay here and don't even want me to pay anything for it and they know that I'm endangering you and your family by staying here. But they took me in nevertheless and your dad even wants to lent me some clothes tomorrow", Harry said. "I never thought your parents would be like that. Seeing you and how hard you work at school and everything, I don't know, I thought they would be a bit intimidating and very strict. I thought your mother would be a perfect copy of Professor McGonagall."

"They are strict from time to time, about some things. But no, not like McGonagall would be", she said grinningly. "I like Professor McGonagall, but I wouldn't want her to be my mum. Though I don't really think that she is this strict at home as she is at school, but who knows", Hermione said.

"I never thought about her having.. A life", Harry said sitting up on the bed. "You think she's married or something?", he asked.

"No clue. Maybe she's Dumbledore's girlfriend", Hermione said and Harry started laughing so hard that Hermione had to scold him so as not to wake her parents.

"I'm sorry, it was just the image you made in my head", Harry said still laughing a bit.

"He's the most powerful wizard on earth, he must have been popular with women at some point in his life", Hermione said.

Harry didn't really want to talk about Dumbledore's love life, so he got up and said "Thanks for taking care of me, Hermione. I think I'll try to sleep again now. Good night."

"Good night, Harry", she said, looking after him when he left through the door.

When Harry woke up it was already 11 A.M. There were clothes lying on a chair inside his room that Mr. Granger must have brought in this morning. Harry took the clothes with him when he went into the bathroom and put them on after showering. They were a bit too large for him, but fit him good enough, so he left the bathroom and went to look for Hermione.

She was already sitting in the living room, reading a book. Harry smiled when he saw that well known sight.

"Morning, Harry", she said when she saw him. "Want some breakfast?", she asked putting her book away.

"That would be nice, but you don't need to cook anything for me, just some bread will be good enough", Harry said.

"Don't be silly Harry, it doesn't take that long to make some scrambled eggs. You eat them every morning at Hogwarts. You want some?", she asked already on her way to the kitchen, with Harry following behind her.

"Okay then, if it really isn't too much trouble", Harry said watching Hermione grabbing a pan from a closet and then some eggs out of the fridge.

"No, not at all. Sit down, Harry. Just feel like.. I don't want to say at home.. You know what I mean, just make yourself comfortable, okay?", she said, while stirring the eggs in a bowl.

Harry sat down at the kitchen table and waited.

"Do you want some bacon with your eggs, Harry?", Hermione asked already putting the eggs in the pan and turning on the heat.

"If you have some", Harry said still watching her going around in the kitchen. He somehow found it very interesting and wasn't a least bit bored until she put a plate in front of him on the table with scrambled eggs and two slices of bacon. She sat down too, in front of him and Harry started to eat.

"Had any more nightmares last night?", she asked.

"No, no I slept very well. It's just one time per night, usually", Harry said after having swallowed. He waited a few seconds before taking another bite of the eggs until the silence got too awkward for him because Hermione kept staring at him and then he filled his mouth again with the eggs so he wouldn't have to say anything.

"That's good", Hermione said smiling. "I wish we could tell Ron that you are here, but it would be too dangerous. The owl could be intercepted. I'm sure Dumbledore already told him and the other Weasleys, but he'd like to hear it from us himself I think", Hermione continued and Harry had to swallon down his eggs again before answering and thought that maybe she did this on purpose to annoy him.

"Yeah, he would. At least I would, in his place. Too bad he hasn't got a phone. Do you think a muggle letter would reach him if we wrote - Ron Weasley, the Burrow, England - on it?", Harry asked jokingly.

"Too bad they don't even have a real address. Seems like there's nothing we can do, he'll understand. Maybe we can send him a letter without actually mentioning that you are here, but still telling him that you are okay", Hermione said. She stood and took Harry's plate. "Want some more, Harry?", she asked but Harry shook his head. She put the plate in the dish washer and Harry followed her back to the living room.

"Want to watch some TV?", Hermione asked, sitting down on the couch with Harry sitting down beside her.

"Dunno", Harry said. "If you want to."

"We could also learn a bit for school", Hermione said and Harry abruptly said "Yeah, TV sounds really good", which made Hermione smile.

They saw a news report about a bridge mysteriously having crashed into the water although the officials can't tell why it did, because it wasn't that old at all and should have been good for at least a few more decades.

"Sounds a bit funny if you ask me", Hermione said.

Harry just shrugged. "I don't know much about bridges."

"Me neither, but I do know that this shouldn't have happened. And they said it's mysterious and no one knows why it happened", Hermione said deep in thought.

"So what? You think deatheaters would go around now destroying muggle bridges?", he asked.

"Maybe. I haven't read the daily prophet yet. Let me get it", she said and went to fetch the wizarding magazine that she had a subscription to. She sat back down and scanned through the pages, she didn't have to look long. A big, moving picture of the bridge that she and Harry just saw on TV was in the prophet with deatheater attack written over it.

"At 6 A.M this morning, the Brockdale bridge in London was attacked by deatheaters", she read out loud. "Ministry officials were working for hours on obliviating all people who saw the attack happen. Rufus Scrimgeour, the recently elected minister of magic, wasn't available for comments."

"Rufus Scrimgeour?", Harry asked, interrupting Hermione.

"Oh, yes, you wouldn't know since you don't get the prophet. Fudge has been sacked because of everything that happened. I don't know much about this Rufus Scrimgeour though, I hope he's a better minister than Fudge", she said.

"Me, too", Harry said.

She read the rest of the article in silence.

"So it really were the deatheaters then, you were right", Harry said. "Any casualties?", he asked fearing the answer.

Hermione nodded. "Twelve muggles dead, about 30 badly hurt", she said sadly.

"Why does he go around killing muggles?", Harry asked angrily. "It's not fair, they can't protect themselves against magic. It's like shooting someone in the back."

"Because he wants both the muggles and the wizarding world to live in fear and I don't think he has enough followers yet to begin an attack on the wizarding community out in the open. It's all cloak and daggers at the moment", Hermione said.

Harry sighed. "Can we do something.. I don't know, just don't let us read those news anymore. I don't want to think about it at the moment."

Hermione put away the prophet. "Sure, Harry. So, you are up to do some school work now then?", she asked with a glint in her eye.

"Whatever, can't hurt now, can it?", he said to her delight.

Hermione went to fetch a bunch of books and also provided Harry with parchment, ink and quill. She sat down again and clapped her hands.

"Let's get to work then. I must admit that I already did all the homework last week, so you will get all the fun. But I will help you, shall we start with the essay on gremlins?", she said energetically.

Harry gulped. "All the fun?", he asked, but didn't protest anymore when she shot him a glare.

After an hour of school work, Harry let his head fall down onto the table with a clonk. Hermione scolded him, but finally let the book sink down from which she lectured Harry for the last ten minutes. "Okay, enough for today. But tomorrow we'll do the rest of your homework, Mr. Potter", she said.

Harry was glad she didn't force him to do the rest of the homework today, so he got his head up again. Then something came into his mind. "Hermione?", he said. "Did you receive a pamphlet from the ministry, too?", he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, I did. Oh, I completely forgot. I should have asked you something to prove that you really are you. Stupid me, that could have been dangerous", she said angry about herself for forgetting something that important.

Harry just shrugged. "I don't really think those - tips - were that good at all. I mean, come on. A death eater who would use poly juice potion could get the secret question and answer out of the person he poly juices in, couldn't he? They got the pamphlets, too. They know what they have to do now. But that wasn't what I meant to ask about. There was something mentioned. Inferi. But I've never heard about Inferi before. Do you know what they are?", Harry asked.

"Zombies", Hermione said.

"You mean.. Brain eating, living dead people?", Harry asked astonished. He didn't knew that was possible. To reanimate someone.

"No", Hermione said. "They don't eat brains, Harry. We're not in a movie. But they are living dead. Or more like still-moving-dead, because they don't really live anymore. Nothing can bring one back from the dead."

"You think he really has an army of Zombies, then?", Harry asked.

"I don't hope so. In fact, it creeps me out to even think about it", she said shivering slightly.

"Yeah, me too", Harry said. "I hope those people who claim to have seen them were just bonkers."

"One thing though in the pamphlet was worth mentioning. The Disillusionment charms, especially for you, Harry. We should work on them together when we are back at school", Hermione said.

Harry nodded his approval. "Ron, too. And Ginny. Maybe we should just form the DA again this year. Though, maybe we get a better teacher for defence this year."

Hermione's eyes twinkled when she heard Harry mention the DA. "I think it would be really great for all of us if we did the DA again this year. It really helped me a lot, too, you know?", she said. "You are a good teacher, Harry."

"No I'm not", Harry said. "But yes, some people really liked the DA sessions. Let's think about it some more when we know who teaches defence this year.

After a delicious lunch Hermione cooked to Harry's mild surprise, they both went back into Hermione's room again. Hermione sat down at her desk and Harry was bent over her shoulder, looking and sometimes giving advice on what to write. They wrote a letter to Ron, trying to mention that Harry was good and well without actually mentioning that he was staying at Hermione's parents house. Harry's and Hermione's opinions on how to do this were far from being the same.

"Stop telling me what to write, Harry", Hermione said frustrated. "We could have been finished with this letter ages ago if it wasn't for you giving - advice - on every sentence."

"Sorry", Harry muttered. "It's just, I'd really like to talk to him myself, you know?"

Hermione smiled and turned her head to Harry. "You miss him", she said still smiling.

"No I don't. It's just that I haven't had a good talk about Quidditch in a long time", Harry said.

"Boys", Hermione said sighing. "You wouldn't die from telling each other that you.. Aww, forget it. It's okay. Harry? What are you grinning for?", she asked.

"Nothing, it's just that it's really cute how you wrinkle your brows when you talk about us being thick again", Harry said snickering.

Hermione blushed. "Did you just say I was cute?", she asked in a rather high pitched voice.

Harry gasped. "I.. Nooo... No. Never mind. Nothing. I just.. You really should continue on writing the letter, you know. Time keeps on slipping", Harry said, mentally kicking himself for having said something like that about Hermione.

Hermione just nodded hastily and turned her attention back to the letter on her desk. After a few minutes in an awkward silence, she read the letter out loud to Harry.

---

Dear Ron,

As you know from my earlier letters, Hedwig is staying here with me for the rest of the summer, because Harry's relatives didn't want her in the house anymore. I just had him on the muggle phone the other day though and he wanted me to tell you that he is fine. He can not send you any letters since Hedwig is staying here with me. I really do not want to, but Harry forced me to ask you about your opinion on the Quidditch season this year. I will tell him what you said, should I get another chance to talk to him on the phone this summer.

I hope you had fun this first week of summer, and greet Ginny from me, please.

Love,

Hermione

---

"Isn't the letter a bit short?", Harry asked.

Hermione shrugged. "They usually are. I don't talk that much with Ron. We just don't have anything in common, other than you, that is. Usually we tend to talk about you and what's happening in the wizarding world and about the deatheaters and Voldemort and then we come back to talking about you. Now, that I can't really mention much about you, there's not really that much to talk about."

Harry sat down on the bed. "Wow. You should never tell him that. He would kill me", Harry said.

"What for?", Hermione asked.

"Never mind", Harry said.

"So, what are we going to do with the rest of the evening, Harry?", she asked.

"Dunno. I usually don't have company at summer break. And in school we always have loads to do. You don't have wizarding chess or something like that, do you?", Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head. "No, sorry. I could give you a book to read if you want", she said.

"Uh. Yeah, maybe. No school stuff though, please", Harry said fearing the worst.

Hermione looked accusingly at Harry. "You could use some extra school work, you know?"

They heard voices and Hermione jumped up from her chair. "That must be my parents, let's greet them. They'll have your belongings with them. We can scan through them and write that note to Dumbledore if anything is missing", she said and Harry followed her out of her room.

Harry and Mr. Granger brought all of Harry's belongings into the guest room and after they got everything out of the car, Harry and Hermione sat together on Harry's bed. Harry was relieved to see that the photo album with the pictures of his parents that Hagrid has given him as a present some time ago was still there. He scanned through the pages, Hermione looking over his shoulder and stopped when he saw a picture of Sirius. He moved his hand over the page and felt Hermione's head leaning on his shoulder, an arm around his back. He was glad that she didn't say anything and was just there for him.

Harry sighed loudly after a while and put the photo album away. Things were lying scattered around on the floor and the bed. He looked through all his things but didn't find anything missing. "Seems like there was nothing stolen", he said.

Hermione let go off Harry, she wiped a single tear away from her eye and Harry didn't knew why she had cried. He didn't even notice it before and felt a bit lost about what to say to her, but was saved from saying anything when she smiled wide. "Perfect, let me help you put everything back", she said.

She stood up from the bed and put a few of the things away that lie scattered around the room. Harry helped her after a few seconds still in thought about what had happened.

She kissed him goodnight on the cheek that night and Harry lay awake for a long time before finally falling asleep.

**A/N 2:**

I hope Hermione didn't feel too much out of character in this chapter, it was hard to get her right. She changed so much from book 1 through to book 6 and there still are so much situations one just doesn't know how she'd react when confronted with them. I incorporated a few things from Half-Blood prince into this chapter, most importantly the pamphlet and the attack on the bridge. I won't do this with everything that happened in book six, that would be boring. It's just a reminder on where the story is at right now. As for the absence of any action up till now, I like it to be a bit slow. It's like that in the books, too. There will be quite a few action scenes in this fanfic, but they will come out of the blue, surprising you. For those of you that don't already know, J.K. announced the title of the 7th book, today. It's Harry Potter and the deathly hallows, though no one knows what it means because hallow isn't even a word.


	4. Prophecy

**Hermione comes to the rescue**

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. This is a non profit fan fiction.

**Author's note:**

I hope you had a merry christmas and I wish you a happy new year! Here's the next chapter, hope you like it ;) Though I wouldn't hate you for not liking it, it was really hard to write. Took me a week, I think. Usually it just takes a day :) Just don't tell me that you hate it and I won't lie about hating you ;)

**Chapter 4: Prophecy**

When Harry woke up that night, it wasn't because of a bad dream. He woke up because he heard something. Someone moaning. Sounds coming from somewhere not far away at all. "Hermione", Harry thought fearing the worst. Deatheaters in the house, could it be? That would mean the aurors or even the order members protecting the house would be already dead. Harry grabbed his wand from under his pillow, took his glasses and put them on. He went to the door to his room, took in a deep breath and opened it.

Hermione's room really was were the sounds were coming from. Mentally preparing for the attack, "Stupefy" already on his lips for whoever he'd find in Hermione's room, he opened her door and jumped in, wand arm outstretched in front of him. It was dark and Harry saw no one but Hermione in the room, who was thrashing around in her bed. He scanned the room, but couldn't find any sign of an intruder. He let out a breath he didn't knew he was holding in and went over to Hermione.

He knelt down beside her on the bed and shook her arm. "Hermione, wake up", he said softly.

She moaned again, her brows wrinkled in something resembling fear. Then her expression relaxed and she opened her eyes. The moonlight was shining directly on her face. Harry stared at her, taking in her deep brown eyes that were staring back at him. Later, Harry would never admit that he thought she looked like an angel, not even to himself though deep down he knew that this was exactly what he had thought in that moment.

"Harry?", Hermione asked him in confusion, barely able to keep her eyes open.

Then Harry found himself in an embrace. Hermione started sobbing. Harry was taken aback. Slowly, he lay his arms around her and stroked over her back. "It's okay, Hermione. It was just a dream", he said, trying to sound comforting. She still held on to him for a whole minute, before releasing him from the embrace. Harry pulled his arms away from her awkwardly, by now not really knowing anymore were to put them as if they usually weren't a part of his body.

When his arms were nearly at his sides again, Hermione grasped one of his hands, startling him. "Don't!", she said loud. And then she added in a tiny whisper "please..". Harry put his other hand above Hermione's.

"Hermione, what.. What did you dream about?", Harry asked, still shocked from the whole thing.

She just shook her head. Harry then realized, that she was panting heavily. Her hair was sweaty and messy. Tears were running down her face. He didn't know why, but he found himself moving a hand up to her cheek, stroking away a few tears. She just kept staring at him with a gaze so intense that it sent little shocks through Harry's body. Harry heard her breathing return to normal levels and found himself in an embrace again and this time, his arms sneaked automatically around her back, as if it were exactly that what they were made for. It just felt natural.

"I need you", she said with a broken voice, still not letting go of him, her head resting on his shoulder. He felt her warm breath on his neck. "You are my best friend", she said. Harry gripped her tighter. "I don't want you to die", she said and by now Harry knew what she had dreamed about. He didn't say anything back to her. He didn't know what he could have said. He didn't want to die but the chance for him staying alive through all of this wasn't good at all.

Harry's hands stroked over Hermione's back in circles. Her shirt felt sticky from her sweating that much, but Harry wasn't disgusted about that like he thought he should have been. In fact, it felt very nice, he thought. He let go off Hermione and looked back into her eyes. Hermione's hands went from Harry's back down on his knees when he pulled back from her. She didn't pull her hands back, she needed to feel him. She needed to feel that he was here with her. "You.. You dreamt about me dying?", Harry asked.

Hermione nodded. "It's because", she staid stopping for a cough to make her voice steady and continued "It's because we looked at the photo album. When I saw him.. Sirius. I thought back on what happened at the ministry. I didn't understand what the prophecy said, when it shattered. But there were words I was able to hear. Not many, but.. You know, I was able to put enough together to know that..", she said but didn't continue.

Harry sighed. "I'm so sorry, Hermione", Harry said.

"You are sorry? About what, Harry? It's me who's sorry. Crying on you like that.. The prophecy is about you, not me. I should comfort you, not the other way around. But here I am, crying on your shoulder because I don't want you to.. to.. die", she said, sobbing before the last word went over her lips. "I wish we could have heard the whole prophecy, maybe it said something important. Something about how to kill Voldemort", she said.

Harry hold his breath. There it was. Now or never, he thought. "Hermione.. I know the prophecy. The whole prophecy. Dumbledore showed it to me in his pensieve. He was there, when the prophecy was made", Harry said, watching Hermione's face intently. "You wouldn't believe who made it. It was Trelawney. That's the reason why Dumbledore hired her. He had to protect her from Voldemort, so he wouldn't get the prophecy out of her. He knows that she doesn't know a thing about divination at all. You were right to stop going to her lessons", Harry said.

"I thought about that. Ron, too. We thought that Dumbledore may have told you more about the prophecy when you went into his office at the end of last year. So.. What does it say?", she asked.

"Do you really want to know it, Hermione?", Harry asked, fearing she'd say yes.

Hermione just nodded and grabbed one of Harry's hands, her other hand still resting on one of Harry's knees.

Harry braced himself and spoke. "I can't recite every word of it, I lack your brains for that, but there's one part that I will never forget. Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives", Harry said.

"That's what I heard parts of. Oh, Harry", she said, flunging her arms around him again and pressing him against her.

"It also says, that I have the power to destroy him and that he doesn't know about this power. Dumbledore thinks that this power is love, though. Don't know how that could be of any help", Harry said.

Hermione let go off Harry abruptly. "But Harry, that means that you can really win against him. It wouldn't say that if it weren't true, would it? So whatever that power is and even if it really is love, than this will be your chance to kill him", Hermione said, rubbing the tears out off her eyes.

She stood up from the bed and walked around the room, thinking. Harry watched her in confusion. One moment she can't even stop crying and doesn't want to let go of him and the next moment she jumps up, walking around mumbling to herself about the prophecy.

"Did it say anything more?", Hermione asked.

Harry nodded. "It said he marked me as his equal. That's why I speak parsel. When his curse hit me as a baby, I got some of his powers.

"He marked you? Does that mean, he did this knowingly?", she asked.

"Yes and no", Harry said. "He didn't want to give me any of his powers, he didn't know that he would mark me as his equal. But it was he who chose me to be the one having to kill him. There is someone other than me. Voldemort could have chosen him, instead. But he did choose me and with that, my parents had to die protecting me", Harry said sadly.

"Now it all makes sense", Hermione said, still wandering around the room.

Hermione sat down back on the bed beneath Harry. She ran a hand over her face, wiping away some forgotten tears and sweat. "I'm sorry for all of this. I look awful, don't I?", she said sighing.

"Don't be sorry, Hermione. Remember yesterday? You helped me that night and now I'm helping you. And you don't look awful at all. A bit messy but hey, it's just me", he teased her.

She wrinkled her nose and poked him in the ribs. "Don't tease me, Harry. That's my job", she said. "Gosh I feel bad, I want a shower", she added and pulled her sticky shirt around which seemed to be glued to her in some places from sweating that much, making Harry gasp for air.

She looked at him suspiciously. "What?", she asked.

Harry tried not to let his eyes slip another time. "Never mind", he said. "We could go onto the terace for a bit, that should make you feel a bit better", he said, so she would stop twisting her shirt around.

She nodded and went with Harry through the glass door in her room onto the terace, feeling a cold breeze that made her feel better already. Harry looked up at the stars. Hermione watched him for a few seconds before she too, started looking at the stars.

"They are beautiful, aren't they?", Hermione said.

Harry snickered. "Yeah. Makes you feel small and unimportant. I like it", he said.

Hermione frowned. "Don't, Harry. You can't change who you are. But the things around you will change. You won't ever be able to live a 'normal' life but at least you can stop living in fear when Voldemort is no more. Just keep looking forward", she said.

He looked at her. "And what if I can't kill him? I am just sixteen years old, Hermione. And 11 years of my life were the hell on earth. And even after I came to Hogwarts, there was Voldemort trying to kill me again and again. I.. I just want to live, Hermione. I want to have fun."

Hermione took his hand and looked back at the sky. "Don't give up, Harry. I will be by your side for as long as you need me. You are not alone. I know, you want to be. You don't want me and Ron to get into harms way, but we will, regardless of what you think, because we love you. And it's just the right thing to do."

Harry sighed deeply. "Another reason to hate it, this love all people keep telling me about", Harry said.

Hermione looked back at him, eyes wide. "Harry! Don't say such a thing", she said.

"Why? What has love done for me? My parents got killed because they loved me. Sirius got killed, because he loved me. And now you and Ron want to die for me out of love, too", he said.

"We don't want to die! But we will, if you give up. It's not just about us, Harry. Someone needs to rid the world of Voldemort. He's killing people, maybe even right now as we speak. It has got to stop. I know, this is more than anyone can bear. But we will persevere. This is our chance to take back our world and we're not going to loose it. Do you know why? Because we can't. When we loose, it's over. You are not the only one living in fear, Harry. We all do. Do you want to know what I think? If no one stops Voldemort, we will all die. Muggles and Muggleborns first and then the rest, because Voldemort won't stop. He hates life itself, that's why he's so afraid of death. He couldn't bear it if death was as bad as life", Hermione said.

Harry looked down on his shoes. "I know, Hermione. I know. And I won't give up, you know that. It's just hard.. Really hard", Harry said.

She gripped his hand tighter. "Nothing worth having is easy to get", she said. "And isn't freedom the most precious thing one can think of?"

Harry nodded slowly. "You are far to intelligent, you know?", he said, looking up to her face again.

"Yeah, I get that a lot", she said smiling.

Then her smile faded. Harry's face was coming closer to hers. She stopped breathing completely. Her gaze was fixed on his eyes which got bigger and bigger with every inch his face came closer to hers. Her heart was beating faster and faster until she thought she couldn't bear it anymore and closed her eyes a mere second before impact. Harry's lips touched her cheek. Her heartbeat returned to normal levels and her eyes went open again, feeling dumbstruck. His lips left her cheek and he pulled back. "Oh my god, I thought he'd kiss me", she thought and maybe, if she looked deep down inside of her, she'd have noticed a tiny part of her that was sad that he didn't. It would have been her first kiss and wouldn't it be an even more precious memory if it was with her best friend?

"You are my best friend, Hermione. I can't tell you how happy I am to have you in my life. Without you, I'd have given up years ago. I think I'll go to bed now. Good night, Hermione", Harry said.

"Good night, Harry", she said, looking after him when he went through the glass door back inside. She sighed and looked back at the stars. Then she felt a chill and went back inside, too.

The next morning started again with a late breakfast made by Hermione. They also watched the news again, but were glad that they weren't reporting any more attacks. After lunch they were sitting together doing the rest of Harry's homework. It took them two hours and Harry was bored to death by then but he thought that without Hermione, he would have needed much more time for his homework and was glad that he had her to help him with it.

Because they hadn't anything left to do, Hermione turned on the TV again and saw that a movie she really liked was just about to begin. "Oh, I love this movie. Do you know it, Harry?", she asked.

Harry shook his head. "I don't know any movies, the Dursleys never let me watch TV with them. Last year I had to hide outside behind the window to listen to the news without the Dursleys knowing", he told her.

"Oh..", she said. "Do you want to see it? The movie? It's really good. It's about this woman who's fallen in love with this really famous guy, but she has trouble even getting him to notice her", she said.

"Yeah, why not", Harry said.

After an hour into the movie, Hermione turned her head to Harry and asked if she could lean back against him. "Sure", he said and stretched out an arm. Hermione smiled at him and leaned thankfully against Harry, pulling her legs up onto the sofa.

They spent the rest of the movie in this position and harry felt that somehow his relationship with Hermione changed over the past few days. It wasn't bad at all, he liked it. Sometimes he had Hermione leaning against his shoulder and then sometimes he had his head on her lap. She would even sometimes stroke through his hair, he really liked that. Even though it was just Harry who had to stay in the house all the time, Hermione never left his side. They were together every day and watched movies Hermione knew but Harry never even heard of before. Sometimes, Hermione even got Harry to do some extra school stuff, as he called it. Harry didn't feel like it would have helped him that much, but it killed the time until finally, the last day before they both would go back to Hogwarts dawned.

Hermione went shopping for School with her parents after lunch. It was saturday, so they didn't have to work. Harry had to stay alone at the house, it would have been too dangerous, since Mrs. Granger and Mr. Granger were Muggles and wouldn't be able to protect Harry from an attack. He kept looking at the watch and tried to kill time by looking around the large house and watching TV from time to time. After two hours, he took a nap on the couch.

When Harry woke up and opened his eyes, he saw someone sitting in the armchair, reading a book. He grabbed his glasses from the table and saw that it was Hermione. She heard him and lay her book down onto the table. "You're awake", she said.

Harry nodded. "What time is it? Did you have any trouble in Diagon Alley?", Harry asked.

"It's nearly eight o'clock. We haven't had any problems, your new school books are already in your room. My parents went out for dinner, so we're alone for the rest of the evening. Do you want something to eat? I can serve dinner if you want", she said.

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm not really hungry right now, but thanks."

"Good", she said. "I'm not really hungry either, we ate ice cream in Diagon Alley. So, you want to watch a movie?"

They did, Hermione leaning against Harry with his right arm around her. Harry didn't know when it happened, just sometime in the middle of the movie Hermione came closer and he not really noticed that he lay his arm around her. Over the last week it became quite natural for them to do this. Half an hour later, Harry heard soft noises coming out of Hermione's mouth. She had fallen asleep in his arm. "Bummer, should I wake her?", he thought. The scent of Hermione's hair went into Harry's nose and he didn't know why, but he shuddered for a moment. He realized, that he would miss that all very much when he was back at school tomorrow. They couldn't watch movies together there. He knew it was silly, but for the short period of time at the Grangers, he felt like he was part of the family. He lived in a house, there was no shouting, no cupboard and instead of Dudley, there was Hermione. Lying in his arm. He would miss her. The Hermione, he didn't knew before. Hermione like she was at home. Maybe he would never see her like this again, Dumbledore wouldn't let him stay with the Grangers next summer again, would he? Would the Grangers let him stay with them again, despite the danger that Harry brought to the people he was around? Would Hermione want him to spent the next summer with her? He just didn't know, but these questions nagged at him. He didn't notice that he had grabbed Hermione tighter with his arm. She did though and woke up.

Hermione yawned. "Oh, I must have fallen asleep. Sorry Harry", she said, leaving the comfort of his arm around her and turning to look at him. "You look worried, something happened?", she asked.

"No, nothing. It's all okay, Hermione", he said.

She lifted a brow and asked again. "Really?"

Harry sighed. "It's just.. I don't know. I don't want to talk about it."

Hermione shrugged and looked at her wristwatch. "We should go to sleep, we've got to get up pretty early in the morning and -", she began but Harry interrupted her by saying "I'll miss you".

Hermione looked at him questioningly. "But Harry, don't be silly, we'll be together the whole school year", she said and got up from the couch. She hold out her hand for Harry and he took it, following her and left her in the corridor to their rooms. She knew what Harry meant by saying that he'll miss her. She too, felt a bit sad. She had much fun with Harry over the summer and not only that. There was something more than fun. She felt comfortable with him. She loved it to lie back against him, watching a movie with him. But most importantly, he was there for her when she needed him the most. When she had the nightmare, he comforted her. He was so nice to her.

After a long nights sleep, all worries were gone. There was no time to worry, because they had to hurry. The Grangers and Harry arrived ten minutes early at the train station, Harry and Hermione parted from her parents, Harry told them again how nice it was of them to let him stay over the summer. He and Hermione looked around for the Weasleys. Harry spotted them first, he saw Ron's red hair and waved at him. A wide grin on his face, Harry ran to the Weasleys, followed by Hermione. Ron, too started running too them and Harry and Ron nearly embraced, before turning back a step, both with bride red faces and decided on just shaking hands. Hermione giggled. "Oh, come on you two, you missed each other", she said.

Hermione shook hands with Ron, she knew he'd feel uncomfortable otherwise. "Wow, you are even larger now, Ron", she said eying him.

He nodded. "Yeah, it's the same every summer isn't it", he said grinningly and looked at Hermione. His eyes rested a moment longer on some part of her body before saying "Gosh Hermione, you got bigger, too".

He knew he shouldn't have said that. He knew that she saw where he was looking just a moment before. Why then didn't he just shut his mouth? He winced when he saw Hermione's frightening look. "THANK YOU, RONALD", she said, before turning away from him and went over to meet with the rest of the Weasleys.

Ron looked at Harry in disbelief about himself. Harry tried to give him a comforting look. "Oh my god, Harry. Harry... What have I done!?", he said, running his fingers through his red hair.

Harry had to hold in a laugh. "I think you just stared at our best friends bosom, Ron", he said.

Ron shot him an angry look. "I know THAT, Harry. It's not funny. Not funny at all. Aww, she'll never talk to me again..", he said frustrated.

Harry let out his laugh and clapped Ron on the shoulder. "Come on, she'll forgive you. Maybe, in a few weeks. A Month.. A few years..", he said still laughing and went over to the Weasleys, followed by Ron who looked down on his shoes. Hermione didn't even seem to notice that Ron was here, but she smiled at Harry when she saw him and turned back to Ginny, chatting with her about the summer.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione took a seat in their usual compartment in the Hogwarts Express. Usually Ginny wasn't sitting with them in the train, Harry thought, but he didn't ask her why and no one else did, too. After 5 minutes, Hermione stood up. "I've got to go now, prefect duties. Later", she said and went out of the door when Ron said "Wait.. I'm coming, too.. you know? I'm prefect.. Awww".

"What's with them?", Ginny asked Harry.

Harry grinned.

Ron shot Harry a warning look. "Don't tell her, Harry. I don't want to, but I have to kill you if you do", he said.

"Oh, come on Ron", Harry said and turned his look back at Ginny. "Ron looked at Hermione's bosom a bit too interested for her taste", Harry said.

Ron shook his fist in Harry's direction. "Betrayal", he said.

"He also may have said to her that she got bigger over the summer while still staring", Harry added.

Ginny laughed and then she fixed her gaze on Ron. "So, my dear brother. You found interest in bosoms this year then?", she said in a mock voice. She crossed her arms in front of her upper body. "You won't stare at mine though, will you?", she asked, feigning a feared look on her face.

Ron went bright red. "Eeeeeew, Ginny. That's.. Horrible. Really", Ron said. "I'll go now. Prefect duties. You'll pay for that, Harry", Ron said and left the compartment.

Harry and Ginny still grinned. Then Ginny looked at Harry. "And what's with you, Harry?", she asked. "Can I take my arms back down or are you gonna ambush me then", she asked.

Harry coughed. Neville who sat beside Ginny went bride red.

"You are sixteen too, and Ron's best friend. Maybe you are exactly like him on this matter", Ginny said.

Luna's head appeared from behind her magazine. "I don't know what the problem is. Boys look at bosoms because they like them, don't they? If I was a boy, I would look at them all the time. It's just natural, Hermione shouldn't be cross with him, it's a compliment of some kind, isn't it?", she said, leaving the other's mouths hanging open. She shrugged and continued to read her magazine.

Ron came back to the compartment sitting down beside Harry. Hermione followed five minutes later. She stood in front of Harry. "Could you move a bit, Harry?", she asked.

Harry looked confused. He sat at the window and right from him was Ron, but at Ron's right side was an empty seat. Ron looked down again. She didn't want to sit with him. Ron stood up and sat down a seat to the right. Harry sighed and stood up, too, sitting down beside Ron. Hermione smiled at Harry and sat down beside him, at the window.

"Listen, Hermione", Ron said. "I'm really sorry. You know that, I didn't want to.. It just happened", Ron stuttered, but Hermione didn't listen. Ron sighed and gave up.

The rest of the train ride was a bit awkward, since Ron and Hermione wouldn't talk to each other. At some point, Harry felt Hermione's head on his shoulder. She had her eyes closed and seemed about to fall asleep. When she just did, the train stopped. They were at Hogwarts. Hermione tilted her head up and yawned.

They fetched their belongings and when Ron was about to leave the compartment with his trunk, Luna was in his way. Harry looked over at them. Luna seemed to be pushing her chest out as far as she could. "How was your summer, Ron?" she asked. "I hope you had fun."

Ron's face showed anger and he went past her, out of the compartment and onto the train station.

Luna looked at Ginny. "I don't think he likes mine", she said.

Ginny giggled. "I think he thought you'd be making fun of him", she told her.

"Oh", Luna said. "I didn't want that", she said and left the train with the others.

Hermione stayed a bit behind with Harry. "You told them what happened?", she asked.

"Sorry.. It was funny", Harry said, hoping she wouldn't stop talking to him for that, too.

"It was not", she said.

"Come on, Hermione. He just stared at you. He didn't mean to do anything bad. You look really good now. We all changed a bit. We're older now. It's just normal that people notice", Harry said.

"But I don't want him to! He's a git. He never saw me as a girl, you know that. And now that I'm... All grown up... Now he starts to notice", she said furious.

"No he's not, Hermione. You're really overreacting. Just don't be too hard on him, okay? He really didn't mean you any harm", Harry said.

"I know that Harry. But he's still a git. Let's just drop the topic, I don't want Malfoy to hear any of this", she said.

Harry was in thought for a moment. "Funny that he didn't show up in our compartment today. He usually does. What's up with him?", Harry asked.

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. I saw him on my rounds in the train, sitting in his compartment talking to a few Slytherins. He should have been on rounds, too. But he wasn't as far as I know", she said.

"Really unusual for him. He's planning something", Harry said.

"Maybe. But maybe he just didn't feel like it today, who knows. Come on Harry, or we'll be late for the feast.

**A/N 2:**

I know, I ommited quite a few days in this chapter, but that's because it would have been boring if I wouldn't have done that. I want certain things to happen at Hogwarts, so I needed Harry and Hermione back at school. I just mentioned what happened in the weeks at the Grangers, that Harry and Hermione became a bit closer, but only in a friendly way. There will be flashbacks in later chapters with detailed descriptions of what really happened, mixed into the story.


End file.
